This companion volume to a much-anticipated exhibittraveling the U.S. starting in 2010 features seventy mummiesfrom a variety of cultures and geographical sites, includingAsia, Oceania, South America, and Europe as well as ancientEgypt. It reveals the wide variety of processes our ancestorsused to preserve the bodies of the dead¿not just in the desertsands but in ice, on grassy moors, and even basement rooms.Nearly thirty scientific essays bring together the latest findingsin the fields of forensic research, archaeology, anthropology,and biology. With dignity and reverence, and with outstandingphotographs and illustrations, this volume communicates theunspoken secrets that mummies can tell us.